[Recenzja] Voices of Hope

"Voices of Hope" is the fifth installment of "Seafort Saga", series I fell in love last year. Nicky Seafort, character constructed around strict and inelastic righteousness soaked in depression that made him unreliable and fascinating narrator, became one of my all-time favorites very quickly. I loved how deeply religious and moral he was - he and a big chunk of the world - how many strict rules made the story and character's struggle so intense. Feintuch put no distance between the reader and narrator so those books were emotionally exhaustive and I don't think I'll ever forget the ending of part four. 
All of those qualities are present in "Voices of Hope", yet this installment differs from first four greatly. First of all we have different set of narrators, some characters we know from previous books (Mista Chang, Robbie Boland), some new. Second, also very important - action takes place in N'Yawk, in trannietown, not on a navy ship or in the academy. This radical change of setting changes the tone of whole story significantly. The plot revolves around two events: deteriorating water situation in trannietown which forces tribes to cooperation and Seafort son, PT, running away from home to find his runaway friend he's convinced fled because of his harsh words (he might be an autistic twelve-year-old, but he is a Seafort to the bone). Since it's Seafort Saga this couldn't end well. Seafort himself is a minor character for the most of the book but it is still interesting to look at him from different perspective, especially since his narration is so unreliable. 
Since two of the narrators are trannies (trannie boy Pook and traytaman Chang) and action takes place mainly in trannietown, we get a lot of trannietalk in here. Personally I love it. I don't think there's such thing as too much of trannietalk (though, as other reviews show, I might be in the minority; consider yourselves warned). I am always fascinated how well made this language is, how simple yet precise and how obvious it becomes after a while. A lot of made-up dialects in fiction is terrible from linguistic perspective, it's hard to talk and think in them because they complicate language while its evolution never goes that way. Not trannietalk. 
Trannies are not reduced to the language, they have a lot more space here than in previous books and Feintuch shows us that while very different from us or Uppies and primitive in many aspects of their lives and culture, they are still human beings capable of complicated thought and deep feelings. In some cases they're more natural and honest than Uppies. Uppies on the other hand think they own da worl' and approach trannies with contempt - and get burned badly in the result. This is book about racism and genocide, about mindless cruelty of people treating other human beings worse than the animals. Even though they're armed only in knives and spears, trannies give a good fight, cleverly using their resources, and rather die than surrender into slavery. In this respect "Voices of Hope" are far more deep and complex book than the previous four. (and what a delight after flat and unconvincing "The Traitor Baru Cormorant")
It was almost a year since I've read first four books. I needed this time to cool down after the "Fisherman's Hope" ending. I think it was also good because "Voices..." are so different. If I've read them directly after previous one, expecting more Nicky, Navy and regulations I think I would be very disappointed because there’s only a tiny bit of it in the end of the novel (and Lord God, how perfectly Seaforty it is! even the hanging is mentioned, my favorite of inappropriate inside jokes). Instead I've got a big load of the familiar world, a lot about trannie culture, and this atmosphere I love. And a bunch of interesting characters (especially Halber). And, what I think might be important for some people because I saw it mentioned in reviews several times, construction of the book is different, we don't get the three-part scheme known from parts 1-4. I don't mind but I saw people do have a problem with it. 
I like this book very much and I think it is a worthy addition to the "Seafort Saga". It is different, though, so if read directly after previous ones it might disappoint - not because it's bad but because it is distinctly different.